Q: The cook.

A: Yes. The cook creates the spaces...Some critics have complained that there is too much Greenaway [in Prospero's Books] and not enough Shakespeare. So often the director is just a witness. I prefer a director who wants to create a universe in all its parts.

Q: How do you feel about accusations about your work being obscure?

A: I received vitriolic press for Prospero's Books. American critics called me obscurantist. People assume there's only one kind of cinema-Hollywood-with some kind of emotional rapport between audience and screen.

There are other areas that can be examined. All satisfactory art can be appreciated at different levels. If we continue to keep out elitist, private forms of information, there's a way that film-making will become blander and blander. I don't want to be a private cineaste who is only seen in clubs and university campuses. However difficult [my films] are, I'm determined to be seen by a larger audience.

Q: How do you feel about the difficulties your films have had with the American ratings system?

A: As a foreigner it's always difficult to understand another country's censorship system. America was the only country that banned The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. It was somewhat surprising. Characteristics about it are disturbing...

Q: Do you think the X-rating helped you get your "larger audience?"

A: It's difficult to tell. Miramax milked it. It became a talking point, which is what I wanted to do. I wanted it to be a narrative situation between me and the audience.

Q: What are you working on currently?

A: A film titled 55 Men on Horseback. It's an English western set in the 1760's. It's all about horses. I'm doing some new experiments, combining black-and white with color. It's also a love story, maybe my first.

Interview conducted by Peter D. Pinch.